Natural and man-made fibers are routinely assessed for a variety of different properties, so as to grade the fiber samples. These properties include things such as fiber length, strength, color, moisture content, straightness, fineness, and non-fiber content. For example, measuring the properties of cotton fiber so as to provide a grade for the quality of the cotton is an important step in obtaining the value of the fibers as well as its impact on the quality of the cotton yarn and fabric. Originally, the classification of fiber samples relied upon the senses of human classers who would visually observe the fiber samples and assign them a grade accordingly. However, the use of human classers tends to be variable and heavily dependent upon the skill of the individual.
Electronic instruments have started to be used to grade fibers, such as cotton. However, electronic instruments tend to have problems detecting the fine variations in the cotton properties that a human classer is able to detect.
It is desired that continual improvements be made in such instruments, to make them, for example, more uniform in the detection of the fiber properties, able to measure more fiber samples in less time, able to more easily, reliably, and repeatably detect and identify an expanded set of fiber and non-fiber characteristics, and to increase the reliability and longevity of such equipment.